RESEARCH SOLUTIONS

A Different Way of Knowing Our Consumers Better: SOCIAL COMMUNITY

Those who are involved in marketing are aware. When there is a new campaign, “target group” is the unchanging component of the briefs. Campaign is planned and applied according to the target group. In the past, information based on one dimensional assumptions such as age, gender, place of living, educational status, etc. used to be included under the heading of target group. For instance, target group of our product is university graduate males, aged 24 to 35 years”. This method was in fact the data we thought to work well and we frequently used until recently. We were trying to determine the target group and understand the groups of interest. Since there was one dimensional data in our hands, marketing plans were being prepared based on this data.

Today there is a new topic which the new generation marketers talk about. With involvement of the groups of interest, to dimension this demography further, and by knowing the target group more closely, to make a more sensitive profiling. New what we speak about is adding a second dimension as the “second group of interest” to profiling. In this regard, researcher Johana Barkley underlines this, too: “Formerly we didn’t have much knowledge about lifestyles of our customers, we had only their demographic information. We used to estimate their preferences with these patterns. Now we don’t need the patterns that intermediate us. Because social communities gather around the topics they like rather than age and gender. There are not socio-economic groups here, but communities where common interests are shared.” Johana Barkley’s comments are exactly true, because you can reach your target group through the social communities soon with the the information which would be more meaningful for you, the things they like and they don’t like, instead of their age.

With its infrastructure, it allows you to follow innovative ideas, trends, consumer discourse in the medium- and long-term in chat rooms integrated with social networks, and to reach classified information on various subjects on a single platform instead of going through the data one by one and finding a common ground.

It provides an opportunity to closely monitor the comments of participating consumers about their shopping experiences, television viewing habits and preferences, in short, all aspects of their livesGroups are formed within online social communities in accordance with the customers’ needs.

Sense of belonging is high in participants. They willingly express themselves in the social network built.

Creative ideas are developed via tasks given to participants. Opportunity for one’s ideas to form another’s is triggered.

It is ideal for understanding trends, purchasing and usage experiences.

Advertising campaigns of yours or competition’s are tested.

In social communities that are built in varying periods of time based on the needs of customers, strategies can be tested and improved in long-term with the help of continuity of the community.